Toy objects, such as submarines, which repeatedly submerge and rise in water are a well known art. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,052,812 issued to us, Oct. 11, 1977 for TOY OBJECT THAT REPEATEDLY SUBMERGES AND RISES IN THE WATER, discloses a type of toy which utilizes an effervescent material to submerge and rise repeatedly upon the formation of a gas bubble and subsequent release of same. This type of toy has been used successfully as a premium item in distribution with breakfast foods and the like.
Another type of toy object is one which uses a rubberband motor to propel the toy forward in the water and during the forward movement the toy submerges and after the motor expends itself, then the toy object rises. The closest prior art known to the applicants herein consists of a plastic cylinder in the form of a submarine having a separate chamber fabricated and glued inside the cylinder to provide buoyancy and a metal shaft extending outwardly with a hard plastic propeller on the metal shaft. A rubberband extends from the inner end of the metal shaft to the forward end of the cylinder. The plastic used for the cylinder body in the shape of a submarine is different than the plastic used for the propeller. A series of slots is provided in the bottom of the cylinder to allow water to enter and five spaced apart apertures are provided in the simulated conning tower to allow water or air to escape from the cylinder when water enters same, thereby to provide ballast to allow the object to sink in the water. The metal shaft extends through an aperture at the rear juncture of the two halves, the juncture lying in a horizontal plane when the toy object floats in the water. No bearings or other devices are provided to facilitate rotation of the metal shaft and the propeller thereon. The propeller is at the distal end of the metal shaft.
The prior art device described above is unsuitable for use as a premium, due to the required hand assembly as well as the variety of materials used. Furthermore, the toy is inefficient at best and borders on inoperative as the coefficient friction between the metal shaft and the plastic body is such that the shaft does not rotate easily within the body, and hence, the propeller does not adequately move the object forward through the water.